Memorials of Old London Part 7

Stow a.s.serts that more than 50,000 bodies were interred here. De Manny's original intention, as appears from a bull of Pope Urban VI. in 1378, was to endow a chantry with a superior and twelve chaplains. This project appears, however, subsequently to have been abandoned; for by letters patent, dated 6th February, 1371, the King licensed De Manny to found a house of Carthusian monks to be called the "Salutation of the Mother of G.o.d." In this work De Manny had the co-operation and sanction of Michael de Northburgh, successor to Ralph Stratford in the bishopric of London. It seems probable that when De Manny was summoned abroad on the King's wars Northburgh took up the work, and that to enable him to do so effectually the land De Manny had bought was transferred to him by a nominal sale.[62] The bishop died in 1361, and from his will it appears that he had acquired the land above mentioned, as well as the patronage of the chapel, from De Manny. Further, he left 2,000 and various lands and tenements to found a convent of Carthusians. De Manny and Bishop Northburgh thus share between them the credit of the foundation, although the allusion in the Papal Bull of Urban VI., "Conventum duplicem ordinis Carthusiensis," refers unquestionably not to the fact that there were two founders, but to the fact that the monastery was intended for twenty-four monks--double the usual number.

Sir Walter de Manny, who may perhaps be regarded as the chief founder, was a native of Valenciennes, and was descended from the Counts of Hainault. Froissart, his fellow-countryman, is our chief authority for the events of his life, and has recorded at length his deeds of bravery and daring on many fields of battle. With these we are not concerned at length. It is sufficient to note that he first came to England in the train of Queen Philippa, distinguished himself in the Scottish wars, and was the recipient of many grants of land and other favours from Edward III. He was present at the battle of Sluys in 1359, and had conferred upon him the Order of the Garter. After an eventful career De Manny died in January, 1372. His will, dated November 30th, 1371, was proved at Lambeth, 13th April, 1372. He left directions that he should be buried in as unostentatious a manner as possible; but this being coupled with the provision that a penny should be paid to all poor persons coming to his funeral, it is not surprising to learn that the funeral procession was a large one. He was buried in the middle of the choir, and a fragment of the tomb was found in a wall which was being repaired in 1896, and may be seen to-day in the chapel of the Charterhouse. Various other benefactions were made to the house, and in particular a further grant of four acres of land from the hospital of S. John of Jerusalem in 1378. The relations existing between these two neighbouring inst.i.tutions were always of a friendly character. John Luscote was appointed the first prior, and held office till shortly before his death, which took place in 1398. During many succeeding years the history of the foundation was uneventful, the peaceful life of the monks in their secluded home affording little of interest to the historian.[63]

Happy were the monks when they had no history. Troubles gathered thick around their successors of a later age, after the accession of Henry VIII. to the throne.

John Houghton was elected prior in 1531, and it is around his personality that the interest of the history now centres. "He was small," we are told, "in stature, in figure graceful, in countenance dignified. In manner he was most modest, in eloquence most sweet, in chast.i.ty without a stain." Such was the man who worthily upheld the traditions of his order during the Reformation troubles. For these and the succeeding events we have the authority of Maurice Chauncey, one of the fathers.[64]

In 1533 Henry obtained the sanction of Cranmer in the Archbishop's Court to his divorce from Catherine, and the King's marriage with Anne Boleyn was confirmed by Parliament. In 1534 the Royal Commissioners called upon the prior and monks of the Charterhouse to make formal approval of the marriage. Prior Houghton and the procurator Humphrey Middlemore were committed to the Tower, the Commissioners being dissatisfied with the nature of their answers. After a month's imprisonment they were induced to swear to the King's laws "as far as the law of G.o.d permitted," and were released and returned to the Charterhouse. The Commissioners extracted from the rest of the community a similar oath, by which the succession to the Crown was fixed upon the issue of Anne Boleyn to the exclusion of the Princess Mary. This, however, was but the beginning of troubles. The oath by which Henry was declared Head of the Church of England was a more serious matter. To deny him this t.i.tle became high treason. Prior Houghton addressed the a.s.sembled fathers in a touching manner, and bid them prepare for death. The days were solemnly devoted to spiritual exercises. Their fears were only too well founded, and after interrogation Prior Houghton and Robert Lawrence were committed to the Tower by Cromwell. With them was arrested a third father, Augustine Webster, prior of the Charterhouse in Axholme. In the Tower they were visited by Cromwell and the Royal Commissioners, and memoranda of the interview remain.[65] John Houghton says that "he cannot take the King, our Sovereign, to be supreme head of the Church of England afore the Apostles of Christ's Church."

Robert Lawrence says that "there is one Catholic Church and one Divine, of which the Bishop of Rome is the head; therefore, he cannot believe that the King is supreme head of the Church." On 29th April, 1535, after a trial lasting two[66] days, the three Carthusians and Father Richard Reynolds were condemned to be drawn, hanged, and quartered. On their way to the scaffold they pa.s.sed their fellow-prisoner, Sir Thomas More, who saw them from his prison cell. "Lo, dost thou not see, Meg," he said to his daughter Margaret, "that these blessed fathers be now as cheerfully going to their death as bridegrooms to their marriage." When the scaffold was reached Father Houghton preached a brief but touching sermon:

"I call to witness Almighty G.o.d and all good people, and I beseech you all here present to bear witness for me in the day of judgment, that being here to die, I declare it is from no obstinate rebellious spirit that I do not obey the King, but because I fear to offend the majesty of G.o.d. Our holy Mother the Church has decreed otherwise than the King and parliament have decreed, and therefore rather than disobey the Church I am ready to suffer."

The cruel sentence was carried out on May 4th, 1535. Part of the mangled remains of Prior Houghton was fixed on the gateway of the Charterhouse.

Three weeks after the prior's execution, three fathers, Exmew, Middlemore, and Newdigate, were thrown into the Marshalsea, where they were cruelly tortured, being bound upright to posts. They were brought to trial at Westminster, and executed on the 19th June with the same horrible mutilations as attended the execution of Houghton. For a period of two years after this no further executions are recorded; but Cromwell, exasperated by the firmness of the monks, adopted a new form of persecution. The King's Commissioners took charge of the monastery, which was placed in the charge of seculars. Pressure of every kind was brought to bear upon the religious, who were often deprived of food, robbed of their books, and made to listen to sermons in proof of the royal supremacy. Under the prolonged persecution of Cromwell's instruments, Whalley, Bedyll, and Fylott, some few of the monks gave way, but the major part remained firm.

In the early part of the year 1536 Cromwell took a new step. He appointed another prior, William Trafford, doubtless with the ulterior object of inducing the monks to transfer the property of the house to the King. At length he succeeded, and a large number--some twenty, both fathers and lay brothers--were persuaded to take the oath of supremacy.

At least ten, however, refused to do so. These ten were cast into Newgate on 18th May, 1537, and here nine died of the cruel treatment they received. William Horn, the sole survivor, a lay brother, was transferred to the Tower and executed on 4th August, 1540. On the 10th June, 1537, a deed was executed, rendering up the monastery to the King.

The monks remained till 15th November, 1538, when they were all expelled with a small pension of 5 per annum, with the exception of Trafford, who received 20. The yearly revenue of the house at its dissolution was valued at 642 4s. 6d. Thus the monastery was destroyed, though no accusation of immorality or wrong doing was ever brought against the unhappy men who perished with it. The monks were faithful to their vows, the house was well ordered. No record is to be found of any fault proved against the London Charterhouse: "Nunquam reformata quia nunquam deformata."

Though the old buildings have been largely swept away, or altered and added to, yet enough remains to enable us, with the help of a fifteenth-century plan, to const.i.tute with some degree of exactness the arrangement of the old monastery. This plan, which is still preserved amongst the archives of the Charterhouse, is a vellum roll ten feet long, of four skins, showing the construction of a conduit by which the monastery was supplied with water from Islington. The waterpipe discharged into a conduit in the centre of the great cloister; from the conduit it was conveyed through the gardens into the cells of the monks.

The playground of the Merchant Taylors' School occupies nearly the site of the great cloister, and on the east and the west side of it may be found traces of two of the cells. The lower part of the gatehouse served as entrance to the monastery, though the doors were probably renewed after the Carthusians had gone. The south and part of the east walls of the present chapel are those of the monks' church, and the lower part of the Tower was built by them probably in 1510-20. The charming little quadrangle, known as Wash House Court, was the habitation of the "conversi" or lay brothers, the servants of the convent. On the west external wall of this court are the letters J. H., which may possibly be the initials of the last Prior, John Houghton, and the wall itself of his building. Besides these remains there may also be seen a bit of the monastic refectory, now used as the brothers' library, though it has been thought by some that this is the site of the prior's cell.

II.--THE PALACE, 1545-1611

During the period from 1545-1611 the Charterhouse became a n.o.bleman's palace, and pa.s.sed through several changes of ownership. After the suppression of the monastery the buildings were used as a storehouse for the King's hales (that is, nets) and tents. John Brydges, yeoman, and Thomas Hales were placed in charge of the King's property. This arrangement, however, was of short duration, for in 1545 the King presented the site to Sir Edward North, Brydges and Hales receiving 10 per annum by way of compensation. According to Bearcroft[67] the gift was likely to have cost North dear. The historian tells the story on the authority of one of North's attendants:

"Once, early in the morning, there came from the King to Charterhouse, then the mansion of Sir Edward North, a messenger, known to be a friend of his, to command his immediate repair to the court, which message was delivered with some harshness. This was so terrible in the suddenness and other circ.u.mstances, as he observed his master to tremble at the delivery of it, who yet, finding it dangerous to use the least delay hasted thither, and was admitted speedily into the King's presence with this his servant attendant on him. The King was then walking, and continued doing so with great earnestness, and every now and then cast an angry look upon him, which was received with a still and sober carriage: at last the King broke out into these words: 'We are informed that you have cheated us of certain lands in Middles.e.x'; whereunto, having received none other than a plain and humble negation, after some little time he replied, 'How was it then? Did we give these lands to you?' Whereunto Sir Edward answered, 'Yes, Sire, your majesty was pleased to do so.' Whereupon, having paused a little while, the King put on a milder countenance, and calling him to a cupboard conferred privately with him a long time. Whereby, said this servant, I saw the King could not spare my master's service as yet."

The angry monarch was appeased, and North retained the lands. North lost influence with the Protector and declared subsequently for the Princess Mary, who, on her accession to the throne, created him Lord North.

Elizabeth, two days after her accession, rode from Hatfield and stayed at the Charterhouse with this Lord North "many days," and again in 1561 stayed there for four days, as is recorded in Burleigh's diary:

"The Queen supped at my house in Strand (the Savoy) before it was finished, and she came by the fields from Christ Church.

Great cheer was made until midnight, when she rode back to the Charterhouse, where she lay that night."

In 1564 North died, leaving Charterhouse to his son, Roger, Lord North.

He, some months later, sold the main part of the buildings to the Duke of Norfolk for 2,500, but retained the house which his father had built about twenty years before, together with some two or three acres of adjoining land. This was situated on the east side of the convent church and on the east side of the great cloister.

The property has pa.s.sed through various hands since that day. It belonged to the Earls of Rutland during part of the seventeenth century, and a reminiscence of their ownership remains in the name of the small street called Rutland Place, issuing from the north-east corner of Charterhouse Square. It was in this house that Sir William Davenant, in the year 1656, was permitted to exhibit stage plays at a time when all theatres were closed by the government. The land is now in the hands of various owners--Charterhouse, Merchant Taylors' School, and others.

[Ill.u.s.tration: OLD PORCH, CHARTERHOUSE.

_From a drawing by J. P. Neale (1813), engraved by Owen._]

In providing himself with a residence on the property which he had purchased, the Duke of Norfolk adopted a plan very different from that of his predecessor. Instead of building for himself a new residence, he adopted a common practice and determined to adapt to his own uses part of the buildings which the Carthusians had left behind them. The part he chose for this purpose was the little cloister, which had been built probably about fifty years before, and was very easily converted into a sufficiently stately mansion in accordance with the fashion of the day.

Fortunately, he was able to do this with a minimum of destruction of the old work. The little cloister was, in fact, a house built round a quadrangle. In adapting it to his own use the Duke did not interfere with the outer walls or floors, which are very substantially built, but merely rearranged the rooms inside. This was the more easy because the inside rooms were probably divided from one another by wooden part.i.tions. The result is most interesting to the antiquary, for he finds at Charterhouse not only an excellent specimen of monastic building in the early sixteenth century, but also a very pure example of the London house of a great n.o.bleman of the same date. The Duke left intact a smaller quadrangle opening out of the little cloister, which had been built also in the sixteenth century for the use of the lay brothers. He also beautified the large room which had been used for a Guesten Hall, and perhaps raised the roof. He certainly built two handsome rooms to the north of the Guesten Hall, on the first floor, over what had been the prior's cell and a small part of the cloister walk. To form an approach to these upper rooms he built a handsome interior staircase, which may be seen in perfect condition at the present day. A tradition exists that in order to give himself a little more room he pulled down the east side of the little cloister, and re-erected it in the same style, fourteen feet in the eastern direction.

These works were executed during the years 1565 to 1571, during part of which time the Duke made the Charterhouse his residence.

In the year 1569 Norfolk was committed to the Tower for contemplating marriage with Mary, Queen of Scots, and of being implicated in a plot against the throne and life of Elizabeth. He was released after some months' imprisonment upon pledging himself to abandon all thoughts of the contemplated union. This promise, however, he did not keep. A cypher correspondence was discovered under the tiles of the roof of the house, and other papers were found concealed under the mat outside his bed chamber. For this he was arraigned on a charge of high treason, and executed in 1571.

As the Duke was executed for high treason his land escheated to the Crown. The Charterhouse, however, continued in the possession of his sons. It was first held by the Earl of Arundel, and on his death it pa.s.sed to Lord Thomas Howard, his younger brother, when it became known as Howard House. Whether this arose from the favour with which Elizabeth was always disposed to treat her great n.o.bility, or whether it was that the Duke had granted leases to his sons, which leases protected the property from "escheat," is not very clear. Certainly, however, the Howards held the property until the younger son sold it for 13,000 to Mr. Thomas Sutton in 1611, for the purpose of founding his "Hospital."

III.--THE HOSPITAL, 1611-1908

Of the early life and ancestry of Thomas Sutton little is recorded. He was born in 1532, the son of Richard Sutton, a native of Knaith, in Lincolnshire. His father died in 1558. Thomas Sutton went to Eton, but there seems little reason to believe, as Bearcroft endeavours to prove, that he proceeded to Cambridge. It is certain that he entered as a student at Lincoln's Inn, but did not complete his studies. Shortly afterwards he went abroad and travelled extensively, visiting Holland, France, Italy, and Spain. He had inherited a modest competence from his father.

On returning home Sutton entered the service of Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, and later engaged himself in the capacity of secretary to the Earl of Warwick. The Earl was Master of the Ordnance, and made Sutton a.s.sistant to himself in this capacity for the district of Berwick-on-Tweed. Sutton was active during the Popish reaction then taking place in the north.

He showed loyalty, valour, and wisdom, and was for this rewarded by being made Master General of the Ordnance in the north in 1569. Two cannons carved over the mantelpiece in the great hall still commemorate Sutton's work in this capacity. When the country became quiet Sutton embarked upon mercantile pursuits. He leased lands from the Bishop of Durham and from the Crown, on which were rich and undeveloped coal mines. In this way he laid the foundation of his subsequent fortune; so that when he moved to London, in 1580, he was reputed worth 50,000, and his purse, it was said, was fuller than Elizabeth's exchequer. In 1582 Sutton married Elizabeth, widow of John Dudley, of Stoke Newington. He continued to ama.s.s wealth as his mercantile operations extended, and he carried on a large trade with the Continent, where at one time he had as many as thirty agents. He is reported to have fitted out a privateer at his own charges to meet the navy of Philip, King of Spain. In 1594 Sutton resigned his post as Master General of the Ordnance, and there is evidence to show that the question of a proper disposal of his wealth began to occupy his mind. In 1602 Mrs. Sutton died, and the loss of his wife no doubt tended to turn his thoughts in the same direction.

Fuller[68] says:--

"This I can confidently report from the mouth of a creditable witness, who heard it himself and told it to me, that Mr.

Sutton used often to repair into a private garden, where he poured forth his prayers to G.o.d, and amongst other pa.s.sages was frequently overheard to use this expression, 'Lord, Thou hast given me a large and liberal estate, give me also a heart to make use thereof.'"

He was at all times charitable and generous with his money, and many begging letters are extant from those who desired to profit by his liberality. There were others with wider ambitions, and amongst these Sir John Harrington appears to have conceived the idea of inducing Sutton to leave his large fortune to Charles, Duke of York, the King's second son, afterwards Charles I. No doubt he thought that this scheme, if successful, would further his interests at court.

Harrington hinted to the King that Sutton was contemplating this disposal of his property, and suggested that a barony should be conferred upon him. Sutton, however, had no ambitions in this direction, and when he heard of the matter wrote to the Lord Chancellor and the Earl of Salisbury declining the honour. He says: "My mynde in my younger times hath been ever free from ambition and now I am going to my grave, to gape for such a thing were mere dotage in me." Further, he prayed for "free liberty to dispose of myne owne as other of his Majesty's loyal subjects."

Sutton had already formed the intention of founding a hospital at Hallingbury, in Ess.e.x, and had conveyed all his estates in Ess.e.x to the Lord Chief Justice, Sir John Popham, the Master of the Rolls, and others for this purpose.

In 1609 an Act was pa.s.sed in the legislature for the creation of a hospital at Hallingbury. Shortly after, however, Sutton changed his mind with regard to the locality of the hospital, and determined to acquire Howard House for the purpose. On June 22nd, 1611, he obtained letters patent from King James, with license of mortmain, which set aside the Act of 1609 and enabled him to carry out his altered intentions, and found his hospital on the Charterhouse site. The letters patent set out, at length, the purpose of the founder to establish a hospital for old people, and a free school, and schedules the lands given for this purpose, as well as the names of the sixteen original governors of the inst.i.tution. Amongst these were Launcelot Andrewes and Dean Overall.

Fuller says:--

[Ill.u.s.tration: CHARTERHOUSE HALL.]

"This is the masterpiece of Protestant English charity designed (by the founder) in his life; completed after his death, begun, continued and finished with buildings and endowments, solely at his own charges, wherein Mr Sutton appears peerless in all Christendom on an equal standard of valuation of revenue."

Sutton had hoped to become himself the first master of the new establishment, to the foundation of which his latter years had been devoted. This, however, was not to be, and the munificent donor died at his house in Hackney on December 12th, 1611, at the age of seventy-nine years.

The foundation of the hospital thus initiated was not carried through without a legal struggle. Shortly after his death Sutton's nephew, Simon Baxter, laid claim to the estates as next-of-kin to the founder, and in this design obtained the support of Sir Francis Bacon, who acted as his counsel. While the suit was still pending, this eminent but corrupt lawyer wrote a lengthy and specious letter to King James, setting forth objections to the proposed scheme, and hinting in effect that if the will were set aside the King might himself obtain considerable influence in the disposal of the property. The Courts decided against Baxter, though this decision was not arrived at until after the governors had made largesse to the King. They handed over to James the large sum of 10,000, setting out that the grant was for the purpose of repairing Berwick Bridge, then "much ruinated or rather utterly decayed." The King received this offering, says Smythe, in a very delicate way.[69] It was, in point of fact, nothing more nor less than a bribe, though entered by the Treasury among "Sums of money extraordinarily raised since the coming of His Majesty to the Crown." The whole transaction sheds a sinister light on the customs of the period, for it is not likely that Sutton's executors would have parted with so large a sum had they not been apprehensive of losing the whole, a fear which no doubt quickened their solicitude for the safety of Berwick Bridge. After this, the organization of the foundation proceeded without further trouble, and on December 12th, 1614, the body of Sutton was transferred from Christ Church, Newgate Street, where it had rested since his death, to the elaborate tomb prepared for it in the chapel of the new house where it still rests.

The governors found much work ready to their hand. The buildings had to be rendered suitable for the habitation of pensioners and scholars, and a const.i.tution for the inst.i.tution had to be prepared. The buildings, as we have seen, had been erected for an entirely different purpose. The Duke of Norfolk's house, with the outbuildings, stables and farmyard, were the materials which the governors had to utilise. It is a matter for which the antiquary must be grateful, that in dealing with this ma.s.s of sixteenth century building they did their best to preserve it, and succeeded so well that it remains to the present day. Twenty-one pensioners or "Pore Bretheren" were elected as the first recipients of the charity, but in 1613 the number was raised to eighty, as contemplated by Sutton. Forty scholars were also selected and placed under the care of a schoolmaster and an usher. Those elected pensioners were to be

"no rogues or common beggars, but such poor persons as could bring good testimony of their good behaviour and soundness in religion, and such as had been servants to the king's Majesty, either decrepit or old; captains either at sea or land; soldiers maimed or impotent; decayed merchants; men fallen into decay through shipwreck, casualty of fire, or such evil accident; those that had been captives under the Turks."

The hospital did not escape its share of the troubles attendant upon the Civil War. Some of the governors were deposed from the government of the foundation, the internal management of which was interfered with by the Parliament. In 1643 an order was made for the "sequestering of the minister's and preacher's and organist's place of the Charterhouse; and that the master of the Charterhouse do permit such as the House shall appoint to execute the said places; and that the receiver do pay the profits belonging to the said places to such as this House shall appoint to receive the same." About the same time Mr. Brooke, the schoolmaster, was ejected from his office. It is alleged that he flogged some boys who favoured the parliamentary cause.[70] With the restoration of the monarchy some of the governors were restored to their positions, and Mr.

Brooke, though not reappointed schoolmaster, was given lodging and commons in the house, and a pension of 30 per annum, to be paid by his successor.

The history of the succeeding years is uneventful. From time to time necessary reforms have been introduced into the management of the inst.i.tution, but the intentions of the founder have been faithfully carried out. The wisdom of Sutton in entrusting his inst.i.tution to the management of governors, who have always been men of eminence in church and state, rather than in attempting to lay down hard and fast rules for its guidance, has been abundantly vindicated.

In the early part of the nineteenth century, Mr. Hale, who was first preacher, and then master for more than thirty years, introduced various necessary reforms, and abolished abuses which in course of time had crept in. Archdeacon Hale, besides devoting his attention to the general care and management of the inst.i.tution, was responsible for much rebuilding and alteration in the house itself. Between the years 1825 and 1830 the preacher's court and pensioners' court, now occupied by the brothers' rooms and official residences, were built.

What the labours of Archdeacon Hale were to one Part of the inst.i.tution, the work of Dr. Haig Brown was to the school. In course of time the locality, once outside the boundaries of the town and surrounded by pleasant fields, had become built over and entirely changed in character. In 1864 the Public School Commissioners recommended that the school should be removed into the country. It was not easy, however, to get those in authority to consent to so great a change. Sentiment was aroused against a plan which broke long years of tradition, and it was not till 1872 that the school was moved to its present site at G.o.dalming. The credit of this step, and the subsequent success which attended it, must be given to Dr. Haig Brown, for thirty-four years the headmaster, and subsequently, upon his retirement, master of the Charterhouse. Dr. Haig Brown was appointed headmaster in 1863, and it was owing to his clear-sightedness and energy that this migration was accomplished. He had to struggle against the prejudices of officials, the fears of the governing body, and the feeling which he himself could not altogether dismiss--that a great experiment was being made, and a serious risk run. A touch of comedy was not wanting, for the boys themselves were strongly against the move, and complained loudly that they were being badly treated in being forcibly removed from the somewhat dingy habitation, which they loved so well, to the breezy uplands of G.o.dalming. By this time, no doubt, they are reconciled to the change.

That part of the London site which was vacated by the removal of the school was sold for 90,000 to the Merchant Taylors' Company, who utilize it now for their school, for which purpose it is well adapted, being intended for day scholars only. Charterhouse at G.o.dalming rapidly increased in numbers, and continues to be one of the leading public schools in the country.

Thus, though now unavoidably severed, the two separate parts of Sutton's foundation are still fulfilling the purposes of the founder. The London Charterhouse remains--as Thackeray, in _The Newcomes_, depicts it--a peaceful haven for those whose reverses in the struggle of life have made them fit pensioners on Sutton's bounty; and the school equips, year by year, scholars of a younger generation, who frequently attain to posts of distinction in church and state.